[1] Rogers purchased the Blue Jays in 2000, hoping to lead the franchise to its first playoff berth since the club last won the World Series in 1993.

[6] The most significant change from the 2008 team was the departure of pitcher A. J. Burnett, who filed for free agency and signed a contract with the New York Yankees.

Shaun Marcum (elbow), Casey Janssen (shoulder) and Dustin McGowan (labrum) started the season on the disabled list.

The team and relievers Brandon League (one year/$640K), Jeremy Accardo (one year/$900K), Jason Frasor (one year/$1.45M), Brian Tallet (one year/$1.025M) and Shawn Camp (one year/$750K) along with infielder José Bautista (one year/$2.4M) all came to terms.

[8] On November 5, 2008, pitcher A. J. Burnett opted out of the remaining two years of his five-year contract, ending months of speculation that the starter was planning to leave Toronto.

Catcher Gregg Zaun ended his five-year tenure in Toronto and signed a one-year deal with the rival Baltimore Orioles.

[11] Outfielder Brad Wilkerson (Boston),[12] relief pitcher John Parrish (Orioles),[13] and infielder Héctor Luna (Los Angeles (NL)) all signed minor league contracts elsewhere, while outfielder Kevin Mench signed a one-year deal with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Nippon League.

However, with the trade of Scott Rolen to the Cincinnati Reds, the Blue Jays welcomed infielder Edwin Encarnación, relief pitcher Josh Roenicke and a minor league pitching prospect.

Two starters recovering from major shoulder surgery would have an opportunity to claim rotation slots with the club coming out of spring training.

Barrett, who missed much of his 2008 season with the Padres due to a facial fracture, is a top candidate to be the Blue Jays backup catcher.

Millar, who spent the previous three seasons with Baltimore and hit twenty home runs in 2008, will have an opportunity for a bench or platoon role with the Jays.

In January, the team signed outfielder Jason Lane (Boston) and infielder Brandon Fahey (Baltimore) to minor league deals.

Pitcher Casey Janssen who missed all of 2008 due to shoulder problems was expected to compete for a rotation spot,[29] but was put on the 15-day disabled list just before the season began.

With Sportsnet taking care of the annual Memorial Cup, and TSN covering the NHL conference finals, TSN2 was open, and took in at the time, the biggest series of the Jays' young season.

Adam Lind slugged out an opening day record 6 RBI, and the Jays pummeled the Tigers, giving Roy Halladay the win.

The Blue Jays then bounced back, taking two out of three from Boston, and had some more considerable successes, most notably a three-game road sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, they never again held a playoff position, and gradually faded out of the picture: they were out of contention by the All-Star break, and were never able to mount any sort of charge reminiscent of 2008's 10-game winning streak to get back in the race.

Allegedly, Ricciardi told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports a day before the firing, in which some Blue Jays players spoke critically about Cito Gaston.